As we’ve talked about before, birth control can have some drastic effects on blood biomarkers including sex hormones. If you’ve received your blood test results and been concerned about some elevated (or low) sex hormone markers like DHEAS and SHBG, it’s important to consider how lifestyle factors, like whether you're taking hormonal contraceptives, may play a role. Here's how birth control can affect blood levels of various hormones – and the implications those imbalances have on your health.

We're often asked if hormonal contraceptives can affect female biomarkers. The answer? Yes. It makes sense then, that women begin to wonder how they are affected, and to what extent. Like any other medication, hormonal contraceptives (pills, patches, rings, IUDs, implants, and injections) interfere with the normal functioning of the body. Naturally, there can be some unintended residual effects. Therefore, some out-of-range biomarkers may be attributed to your contraceptive use, while others ...